Britons visiting pubs to have to hand over phones after registering for tracking app

[Michie]

New invasive proposals.


The UK is hopeful to be returning to “as close to normal as possible” by late June when Covid restrictions are expected to mostly be lifted, but there are steps to be taken in between before meeting this “lofty” goal.

It now appears that relaxing lockdown orders will go hand in hand with more strict tracking of people’s whereabouts, proposed to be a way to slow down the spread of the virus.

And some of the rules that will have to be implemented managed to turn even bar owners against the NHS Test and Trace coronavirus tracking program and app – that’s already thoroughly criticized and even ridiculed for its lack of efficiency and high costs.

The plan now is to allow reopening of pubs and restaurants as of April 12, but only outdoors; and, to be able to allow their patrons entry, these establishments will have to require proof of registration on the Test and Trace app. Otherwise, customers will be turned back.

Pub staff will be required to ask to check people’s phones for proof of registration. The new rules apply to all customers instead of one per group, say reports.

This leaves the hospitality industry, already ravaged by more than a year of lockdowns, worried that employees will be facing additional burdens, and given the nature of these establishments – namely, as places where people go to drink – figurative and literal pushback by some patrons cannot be ruled out.

“We are continuing to work with the government to try and get a more pragmatic, proportionate and reasonable solution,” said UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls.

Continued below.
Britons visiting pubs to have to hand over phones after registering for tracking app

 

[apogee]

Test and Trace, is basically meant to be a notification system, to inform users as to whether they have been in the same place as someone who has subsequently tested positive for covid (with the expectation but not the obligation that they self-isolate and get tested).

What's kinda lame about it, is that most phones already have multiple apps installed on them that routinely track movements, especially if like me you can't be bothered to read the terms and conditions of every frivolous piece of junk that you install and forget to delete.

The criticism of it in the UK, is not that it tracks and stores your movements, or that you have to install it (you don't...not even on the 12th April), but rather that despite the ludicrous amount of money thrown at it and the inexplicably long time it took to get developed, it's still a bit flaky and isn't really fit for purpose....which is analogous to the UK Government as a whole.

The headline...

"Britons visiting pubs to have to hand over phones after registering for tracking app"

is incorrect but definitely more catchy than....

"Britons visiting pubs will either need to write their (or Michael McMouses) name and address on a sheet of paper, or else demonstrate that they are using the garbage Test and Trace app.....if they want a beer" (which could become a real problem, after they have had 5 of them)

 

[JustSomeBloke]

Here in the UK, we've had non-stop lies, broken promises, and moved goalposts for relaxation of restrictions. A few examples:

1. Back in February, the UK government was eventually forced to issue a timetable for relaxing restrictions and ending lockdown. The original story was that all restrictions would end on 21st June. That promise barely lasted a week or two. Now the new promise is 'as close to normal as possible', or something like that.

2. The UK government said that relaxation of restrictions would be based on 'data not dates'. That was a lie too. Positive tests and deaths are now way below the level they were at when everything was open last summer, but the UK government refuses to accelerate the timetable for removing restrictions. It appears that when it comes to basing restrictions on data, the data can only be used to increase restrictions, not the other way around.

3. The UK government told us that once the elderly and vulnerable had been vaccinated, we would be free again. That was a lie. They have moved the goalposts again and again. Initially the target was set at vaccination of the over 70s and those who were clinically vulnerable. Now they want to vaccinate all adults, and I suspect all children too.

4. The UK government repeatedly played down vaccine passports, at one point describing them as 'un-British'. But at the same time they were awarding contracts to develop systems for vaccine passports.

There have been so many lies I could go on about this all day .....

 

[apogee]

One thing you can say about the current UK government, it is if they say it's going to rain, then you can rest assured that at some point in the next 5 years there might well be some precipitation somewhere, on a planet orbiting a star somewhere in the Milky Way.